Let the Munich 11 Rest in Peace

Latest PR stunt aims at fueling fear and anger - will inevitably lead to more deaths on both sides.editorial by Tony Cartalucci

May 23, 2012 - Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has been leading the charge online advocating a "moment of silence" (Twitter hash tag #JustOneMinute ) at the London 2012 Summer Olympics for 11 Israeli athletes tragically slain in Munich, Germany during the 1972 Olympic Games. The athletes themselves had nothing to do with the ongoing conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors, but were drawn into the conflict when they were targeted and taken hostage, used as political bargaining chips by their captors, and ultimately killed in the process. Now, some 40 years later, it is the Israeli government attempting to use their memory for political leverage, demanding that a moment of silence be observed for the athletes in London, fully cognitive of the controversy, emotions, and backlash it is sure to stir.

The ramifications of Israel's latest PR stunt will surely reach beyond London, and all the way back home, where Palestinians are predictably wondering where their "moment of silence" is after years of what they perceive to be an ongoing national tragedy. And of course, invoking the memory of the "Munich 11" as they are known, plays into the manufactured anger and fear perpetuated by the corporate media all across the West, as Israel contemplates initiating a US-British backed assault on Iran, and also being implicated in fueling instability in neighboring Lebanon and Syria.

What possible good could the Israeli government believe will come of this latest PR stunt? How does once again provoking confrontation benefit the people of Israel? Perhaps the government realizes that they will only provoke tension, anger, and fear amongst not only their enemies but throughout their own population, serving only to perpetuate conflict they seem ever eager to send their sons and daughters off to face. They must then want the inevitable bloodshed that will result, that always does result as both sides purposefully incite their own people into violence to justify another leg of murderous exchanges. So while Danny Ayalon pretends he is honoring the "Munich 11," he is actually, purposefully, knowingly setting the stage for future memorials for future dead on both sides, to then be used to fuel yet more violence amidst this engineered strategy of tension.

The people of the world must demand that the Munich 11 be allowed to rest in peace, that their tragedy serve as a constant reminder of where politically-motivated violence always ends - not exploited to trigger yet another round of tit-for-tat violence - the very tit-for-tat violence that cost the Munich 11 their lives in the first place.